wish upon a star

force maybe appealed

the learning galaxy

vision: curate the collaborative development of a comprehensive portfolio system to capture the talents and gifts of each learner, empowering them with dynamic, visible and audible evidence of their strengths to use on a college application, at a job interview or for their next steps in life. interwoven, these experiential treasures will form a learning galaxy- a multi-dimensional capsule of learning timelessly preserved and resourced.

priority objective: mobilize a collective of creatives, including students and developers, to realize the vision

67

>

Where to start?

Where to start? Start with one All is too easily confused with none and best is worst Instead promise and follow and listen and watch to reveal the one whose stage is calling the designer the creator the healer the builder and the one who may never quite fit in an -er Pathways may be paved or blazed or bypassed or blocked as under construction Defiants are not better nor worse think beyond and seek to understand and integrate use AI to protect PII and reveal the holes that matter Connect the disconnected systems to open the doors And if you start with all Start universally And communally with peace in peace through peace as you quiet to count zero Because learning is... not a snapshot Learning is… time lapsed And empowered by a bloom

Socially Constructing Identity

In a gesture similar to patting a child on a back, I once patted a child's head in the classroom.

"The spirit lives in the head," said the young boy.  He let me know clearly, kindly and with reasonable explanation why he was not comfortable with me touching his head. Every year, I learned more from students.  Every year my cultural literacy expanded. Every year, my understanding of ability grew.  Every year, I realized the limitations more of the expectations I put on students.

Learning is a socially constructed activity.

Identity is socially constructed. 

We construct what we know and are able to do...

from books

from our teachers

from other students

from our families

from our friends

from our learning environments

When an identity is suppressed, suffering happens.

Suffering whimpers.

Suffering cries.

Suffering yells.

Suffering suppresses.

Suffering denies.

Suffering gets angry.

Suffering admits defeat.

Suffering kills.

When an identity is freed, life happens.

Standards are of industry. They are not of intellect.

THe binary bar
the sorting bar
the judge of all the learning
sorts for proficiency

1, 2.. no time for you

3, 4 education no more

5, 6

7, 8

These words are for you,
yes you,
the reader, the thinker, the solver, the doer...
the student
the teacher
the broken
the burned out
the drop out
the valedictorian


The words are for the
certain to disprove
the seeker to understand
the defeated to find hope
and the learner to find freedom

I wrap your gift in reason and seal it with logic

for you

my children

your education is wrapped up within that box of reason

But really failure defines
because it drives the profit

thanks to the binary bar

the sorting bar

the bottom line

the stick

carrots and sticks

We're figuring out this stick, your binary bar

And we are removing it from your innate worth and your inalienable rights

Wood bar
Metal bar
Doesn't exist

Just a bad idea
A mistake we can learn from and transform a system

Educators walk around looking for marketing's obstacles confusing learning

Enable little ones hear the sound of the symbols we need to write life's music

Legislators, smell poverty coming from Wall Street . Just stop long enough to investigate savage inequalities rampant in our system

Taste a few school lunches, too. I dare you .

Touch your way from introduction to mastery little one Solve literacy. Build dimension.

And take that mysterious bit of you, the combination of senses and lack of all at the same time. That part take it . And with that, resolve

Resolve peace within and without.
And fly

Expectations are too low

Red herring

Dig deeper, go wider, fly higher

"The problem is parents," cries the defeated teacher whose lifeline is being pinched.

Red herring

Dig deeper, go wider, fly higher

"The problem is high-stakes tests," shouts a collective voice of frustration.

Dig deeper, go wider, fly higher

"The problem is Common Core," shouts a collective voice of frustration.

Dig deeper, go wider, fly higher

"Your expectations aren't high enough," says the one who's never taught.
More ad hominum

Dig deeper

"Other countries children are outperforming America's students."

Dig deeper, go wider, fly higher

"It's poverty," says a heartened bunch.

Dig deeper

"Failure."

Sccess and failure define a system, a sorting system

Not mistakes

Failure drives our system 

Failure finds its category comfortably reasons to educate: economic, cultural, social or personal 

It's root cause is a factory model of management.

Partially

Dig deeper

A factory model was industrial managed by curriculum.

And today's public schools are an industry driven by standards.

And

Industry needs failure to define success

And 

Industry is regulated

Standards sort success from failure with a bar, yearly and absolutely

With no consideration for everything that makes us human

Standards sort student success

Standards sort teacher success

Standards sort school-wide success

Standards sort district success

How?

Successes are sorted from failure with an elusive mark of proficiency from a bubble or a judge who is most often temporary hired help

Our educational system in the U.S. is now sorting quality of learning in the brain with a measure used by other industries, the standard

The sorting standard

And once sorted, failure brings profit

The failure of a teacher

The failure of a student

The failure of a school

And each failure source brings its own profit stream

a new channel for sales

a new channel for product

a new channel for development

Walk the halls of any educational conference if you question my conclusion

Standards apply to car safety.

Standards apply to a profession.

Standards apply to

Visit the website of the most prestigious, private school

Have they let standards in?

Standards now measure the learning in a brain

In the same way we measure the safety of a car

or the quality of a blueberry

But here is my question for you.

Do standards apply to learning in the brain?

.A traditional school was run by a factory model with curriculum

An industrially designed school is driven by a standard, regulating learnign similar to the ways other industries are regulated

Think

Think like a teacher reflecting on a lesson learned from a lesson delivered

What is not working?

What can be let go of?

What can be repealed?

What can be built upon?

We made a mistake and applied a concept from industry to learning that just does not apply

Keep standards in school and apply a standard measure to ensure minimal expectations are met for

per pupil expenditures

teacher pay

building conditions

outdoor space

active time

But stop using standards to measure the quality of a developing mind and learning brain

I beg you.

We're figuring out this stick, this binary bar

And we are removing it from your innate worth and your inslienaw rights

Wood bar
Metal bar
Doesn't exist

Just a bad idea
A mistake we can learn from and transform a system

Educators walk around looking for marketing's obstacles confusing learning

Enable little ones hear the sound of the symbols we need to write life's music

Legislators, smell poverty coming from Wall Street . Just stop long enough to investigate savage inequalities rampant in our system

Taste a few school lunches, too. I dare you .

Touch your way from introduction to mastery little one Solve literacy. Build dimension.

And take that mysterious bit of you, the combination of senses and lack of all at the same time. That part take it . And with that, resolve

Resolve peace within and without.
And fly

Dear Children,

I am fighting for your education.  I fight in truth tables, essays and poems. I fight with words on a blog and tweets in a stream in the hope that someone will understand. 

 

Student Expectations

Hattie (2015) lists "Student Expectations" at the top of the list for having the most research behind it in improving student achievement.  This realization caused quite a buzz at the first 21st Century Learning and The Thinking Classroom class I facilitated.  Did that mean a teacher's expectations of a student or a student's expectation of self?  After some investigation, it was discovered it meant a student's expectation of self.  What did that mean?  I remember one elementary-school  teacher gave what I found to be an insightful definition.  She described student expectations as being intertwined with students practicing a growth mindset.  Another very insightful high school teacher made another comment that stuck with me.  While we were looking over Hattie's list, he asked the question, "Wouldn't it be better to focus our energy on one of these factors instead of trying to meet all of them?"  I agree with that, too.

As I was thinking about the idea of student expectations of self earlier today, I ran across a bit of research that provided further clarity for me of what it means.  I love it when life works like that. Siegle's (2017) research finds achievement-oriented students demonstrate four shared traits.
1) They believe that they have the skills to perform well. 
2) They expect that they can succeed. 
3) They believe what they are doing is meaningful. 
4) They set realistic expectations and implement strategies to successfully complete their goals.

A sizable piece of my position is servicing students in a talent pool.  A talent pool is a group of students who experience gifted programming before being identified in the hopes of later identifying them.  Some students are surprised to find themselves in the talent pool.  I overheard one student tell a teacher who was passing through our Traveling Innovation and Exploration Lab, "I don't know how I'm here, but I'm glad I am."  Then, I asked the question through Padlet, "Are you excited to be in the talent pool?"  Another student wrote....

Before the talent pool, what were these students' expectation of themselves?  What can we do to lift students like this up and help them practice the growth mindsets they will need to persevere?  In the talent pool, I am explicitly teaching growth mindset and perseverance, and the talent pool has a way of building self esteem because of its nature.  Looking beyond the talent pool work, I wonder...

How can we as practitioners scale this idea and weave this into our instructional design?

What would it look like if we collectively focused on student expectations?

What would happen if educators made student expectations a goal, the goal?

References

Hattie, J. (n.d.) Hattie Ranking: 195 influences and effect sizes related to student achievement. 
         Visible Learning. Retrieved from https://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect- 
          sizes-learning-achievement/

Siegle, D. (2017).  Keynote Sessions. Identifying and Serving Gifted Students from Low Income
         Household. Vanderbilt Gifted Education Institute. Retrieved from                                                           https://s3.amazonaws.com/vu-wp0/wp-content/
         uploads/sites/18/2011/12/17135602/PD-Sessions-Fall-20173.pdf

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Dr. Dylan Ferniany, a fellow TED-Ed Innovative Educator who blogs at The Fern Files, challenged me to answer these questions.  The challenge originated with Anthony Purcell at Random Teacher Thoughts.

What has been your ONE biggest struggle during this school year?

The biggest struggle this year is also the biggest opportunity, identifying gifted and talented students in our Title 1 School. 

Share TWO accomplishments that you are proud of from this school year.

1) "This is really fun.  We are using our creativity and working as a team," said a fifth-grade student in the Destination Imagination group I manage after school.

2) "And that is the reason you are here," said a colleague after an emotional conversation about the discrepancy between cognitive ability and academic performance results.

What are THREE things that you wish to accomplish before the end of the school year?

1) Through the end of April, I plan to enrich third, fourth and fifth grade students through a talent pool experience, which is also my TED-Ed Innovative Educator Project.

2) In May, I hope to identify more gifted and talented students at the conclusion of the talent pool enrichment experiences.

3) This summer, I hope to restart work on my doctorate.

Give FOUR reasons why you remain in education in today’s rough culture.

1) Brenda Erickson, the developer of Souns and the founder of Counterpane Montessori School, retaught me everything I thought I knew about literacy.  As a result, I aim to build pedagogical bridges.

2)  Twitter and EdCamps amplified my professional learning.


3) TED-Ed and the inspiring TED-Ed Innovative Educator Cohort transformed my perspective into one of a global educator.

4) Students are waiting.... Students need a more dynamic, creative, engaging, multi-sensory, global learning learning experience than the climb of a standard staircase.

Which FIVE people do you hope will take the challenge of answering these questions?

1) Brenda Erickson, the Montessorian who retaught me how to approach literacy

2) Mindi Frates, a former colleague whose anecdotes I enjoy reading on Facebook

3) Becky Scranton, a childhood friend and literacy teacher in Illinois

4) Steven Sutantro, a teacher in Indonesia who amazes me with every new interaction

5) I'm going to flex the rules and ask any TED-Ed Innovative Educator or other educator to answer these questions.  I want to hear from you!

As my learning shifts, so do my blogs.  If you would like to learn more about the gifted and talented talent pool project, please visit Gifted and Talented Pathways. 

Portfolios as Learning Stories

Imagine the beauty revealed through time lapse photography. The photographs taken each day do not stand alone with a story, but over time, an image blooms.  The story of growth emerges and it reveals life.  To see what I mean, take a few minutes and enjoy Louis Schwartzberg's TED Talk, Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.

A student's learning portfolio is like time lapse photography revealing his/her learning story. I have always valued the portfolio as a demonstration of learning, and I really connect with Sean Grainger's idea for a 13-year learning story.  Imagine if every student traveled through school with a portfolio that demonstrated in the end a 13-year learning story.  A portfolio as a 13-year learning story would be a worthy investment of resources, time and purpose. Not only would the students have an invaluable memory of schooling, but the system would also have the invaluable insight into student identity.

I created an electronic portfolio to express myself as a professional.  I used a Google Site because I wanted to craft it as a model for a student portfolio. Google Sites play well with Google Drive, where many students do quite a bit of school work.  

My Learning Story 

The value of the portfolio multiplies when it is coupled with a student-led conference.  Students own their learning when they are the ones setting goals and sharing progress.  A student-led conference is the bridge from the classroom to the home that teachers spend a whole career trying to build. 

I would like to hear from you. 

Do you use portfolios in your classroom? 

Have you moved your system to an electronic system?

What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of doing so?

Could 13-year learning stories emerge at a system level?


References 

Grainger, S. (2010).Personal Learning Stories, KARE Givers. Retrieved from http://www.karegivers.org/2010/02/personal-learning-stories.html

Schwarzberg, L. (2014). Nature. Beauty, Gratitude. TED Talk, Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/louie_schwartzberg_nature_beauty_gratitude

More on curriculum and standards

Curriculum and standards have been confused and conflated in recent years.  A simple way to differentiate them is to think of curriculum and standards in terms of cause and effect. 

The curriculum is a guide for a teacher.  It outlines the content and skills that need to be taught.  The curriculum is the cause of the learning. 


The standards are the mandates for a learner.  Standards regulate what the learner must know and be able to do in a public school.  Standards are the effects, or the learning outcomes.  And standards are the law.

I have undergone a few pedagogical shifts since studying Montessori. My practice is now guided by a few beliefs. 

1) Keep it simple and honor the analytical skills of the child.

2) Explore curricular concepts concretely.

3) Learning is a process, not a product.

A curriculum is concrete.  

A curriculum is a concrete outline of what a teacher must cover over the course of a year.  In the Montessori world, a curriculum is found not in lesson plans annotating textbook pages but in a carefully prepared learning environment with materials that span three years of discovery learning.

Standards are abstract.

Standards are abstract learning outcomes.  They are not concrete and are less tangible. Standards are government regulations that reduce knowledge and skills to a bar, a pass/fail result along a sequenced staircase that is designed to march learners in unison to future success in college and careers. (Today's standards are predicted to prepare my children to succeed in the colleges and careers of 2025 and 2026.)   

A standard decides if a student is proficient in x. Assessing performance with a rubric, as is done in criterion-referenced, standards-based assessments,  is a subjective task. A rubric is used to score criterion-referenced assessments when the answer calls for writing beyond a bubble. A performance evaluation given by a boss in a company to decide the competency of an employee is the original rubric. Please note that this task, scoring with a rubric, is in the hands of temporarily hired help in many states.

If system uniformity in our public schools is what we desire as a nation, we need a national curriculum.  Standards will never do the job they have been legislated to do. Only a curriculum can do this work.  However, I must raise one question. Is same what we are striving for? 

money cannot buy reason

money

buys a lot of things

money buys

  legislation

food

 outcomes

shelter

mandates

books

glorious learning environments if You are born into certain zip codes

but

the one thing

the one beautiful truth

is money cannot buy reason

so 

arm Yourself with knowledge with learning with questioning 

with logic

and build truth 

by deconstructing spin and conflated definitions

as

money

justifies

confuses

and

plays politics 

while money 

deflates morality

and

inflates the bottom line

You will not be fooled 

You will know

You will recognize the absence of truth 

in the noise of the argument

You

will know injustice

and balance the scales of the courts that only see green

as the bottom line sorts

the world into two 

with the bar

the zero-tolerance bar 

of standard achievement

the standard achievement of

denied identity

and

dismissed exceptionality

the bar that wants You to achieve

it wants You to compete and be smart 

but not clever

and never wise

as the bar knows nothing of a world beyond quantification

because the bottom line must remain 

the indicator of a brain

for an immediate return on investment

that. is. now.

but not for You

You

will read

You

will solve

You will read some more

and connect

and create

and learn

and do

and

You will not be fooled

You will transform the future.

Global Show and Tell

Last week's #whatisschool chat was particularly inspirational.  This Twitter chat has attracted a global audience of educators, innovators and transformers. I am filled with hope and envision an endless array of possibilities as Twitter connects educators and technology connects learners.  My vision includes global collaboration and problem solving, and I know I am not alone.

  

Last week's chat birthed the idea for a Global Show and Tell of "How We Learn." There is a lot of talk (in the U.S. anyway) about the way other countries approach this and do that.  It would be so amazing to see video sharing of examples of learning from around the world.  I dream of a future where lesson plans evolve away from written to-do lists and transform into carefully-constructed and thoughtfully-prepared learning environments. For this reason, I would *love* to get a glimpse of the learning environments happening concurrently in various lands. 

Here is an initial brainstorm for a Global Show and Tell of "How we learn..."

How we learn to read

How we learn to add

How we learn kindness

What are your ideas?  

How we learn to____

I would be honored if you included your ideas on this Google Doc!  

Global Show and Tell

Twitter chats are something else.  Teachers, if you want a major dose of professional development at its best, from the experience of passionate educators, you will find it with a chat. If you are an educator or just interested in education, check one out.  Three pioneer educators of Twitterverse, @thomascmurray, @cevans5095, and @cybraryman1, keep the chats up to date on the Weekly Twitter Chat Times Google Doc. 

 I hope to chat with you soon if we haven't already!   

You'll find me frequently participating in 

#whatisschool  and #tededchat.  

Montessori-Minded Makerspace

Montessori figured out a makerspace of sorts for the young learner. Currently, I see us as trying a complementary approach through today's maker movement, incorporating similar pedagogy with new technology for the older student. It makes good sense to me to build a bridge instead of completely reinventing a wheel. Let's make a pedagogical bridge from Montessori to mainstream and learn from the wisdom of an alternative tradition.  

Check out the lovely infographic Rachel at Racheous-Lovable Learning was kind enough to allow me to reblog. What makes an activity 'Montessori'?  

How can we extend Montessori wisdom into the maker movement?

Let's play.  Let's make.  Let's build.  Let's transform education.  

My learning skyrocketed after learning from a Montessorian.  It began with literacy and has trickled over into my entire teaching philosophy.  My thoughts on most things have changed.  I'll share a few of those thoughts as I think through building this bridge. 

Thoughts on Interest...

Interest should be engaged through the careful prior, proper preparation of a learning environment.  A student's current interests should not dictate the majority of content nor should it drive curriculum. Concentration happens from focused interest.  Interest can be engaged through choice, because concentration is an important skill to have for working in the classroom and the world beyond.

"A child who has become master of his acts through long and repeated exercises, and who has been encouraged by the pleasant and interesting activities in which he has been engaged, is a child filled with health and joy and remarkable for his calmness and discipline." (Dr. Maria Montessori, 'The Discovery of the Child', Clio Press Ltd, 92)

Thoughts on Basic Skills...

Students need a strong base in literacy and numeracy. Montessori essentially solved how to reinvent the classroom as a makerspace for discovering and understanding basic skills.  The skill is first demonstrated, then solved for understanding through practice.  This is often followed with some traditional rote practice.  Currently, we most often skip the discovery and go from explanation straight into rote practice.  We then remediate by involving the hand but should rather begin instruction including the hand as in the Montessori world. We can provide a rich environment with the materials available for discovering the basic concepts of literacy and numeracy.  The analytical nature of the mind should be honored in instruction and concrete trumps abstract for a young learning mind. Students can solve literacy and build numeracy.  In a Montessori classroom, math concepts are built in one corner and in another space, a child solves literacy with a movable alphabet. Teachers begin with a demonstration lesson using the materials, carefully observe practice by following a child, and notate mastery unique to each student.

Thoughts on Curriculum....

A curriculum is relevant to education.  I hope to see it evolve beyond what it has traditionally been, particularly beyond a one year cycle.  A teacher should have a guide or a framework to lead classroom happenings and in the Montessori world, the curriculum runs in three-year cycles, grouping stages of like psychological development together.  A robust, well-rounded curriculum does not consist of a textbook and papers.  It is executed, rather, through a carefully-prepared environment in the Montessori world.

Thoughts on Standards....

Standards are useful tools of industry that can be used to enhance learning environments by limiting class size, evenly distributing per pupil expenditures, and assessing a teacher's professional performance.  However, standards are not well equipped to measure the learning in a young, human mind.  

Thoughts on Assessment...

The process is the key and is never overshadowed by a performance deadline because Montessori's wisdom knew arrival points are different and this is why students are grouped together for three years instead of one year.  Assessment happens through following a child and instruction is informed consistently with this approach. However, the conventional Montessori wisdom knows the process is much more important than the product and the focus is on the process.

References 

Brown, Rachel What makes an activity 'Montessori'? Racheous Retrieved from http://www.racheous.com/montessori-home/what-makes-activity-montessori/

Montessori, M. The Discovery of the Child Retrived from http://montessori.org.au/montessori/quotes.htm

Revive the Lost Art of the Nursery Rhyme

Shortly before Tata’s (my great aunt’s) passing, I took my daughters to visit her in the hospital. She told me she had a dream that my girls knew all of their nursery rhymes. Shamefully, I thought, "They don’t."  It is in her loving memory, I am proud to say my children now know their nursery rhymes and I hope many other children will too!

The brain is a powerful pattern decoder.  It is how the brain learns.  It absorbs the world around it and makes sense of things through patterns and connections uncovered through the senses.  Our language is full of patterns. This language-pattern awareness is needed for literacy.  When a child has a grasp of sound patterns in the language, educators call it phonological awareness. 

“…Wise Mother Goose… “Tucked inside “Hickory, dickory dock, a mouse ran up the clock” and other rhymes can be found a host of potential aids to sound awareness- alliteration, assonance, rhyme, repetition. Alliterative and rhyming sounds teach the young ear that words can sound similar because they share a first or last sound”  (Wolf, p. 98-99).  

Parents and grandparents, practice nursery rhymes with your babes.  You efforts are building future readers. 

Wolf, M. (2007). Proust and the squid: The story and science of the reading brain. New York, NY. Harper Perennial.

The Eternal Essence of a Growth Mindset

I am a bit of a regular in the TED-Ed Community and have met a number of exceptionally brilliant people through that space.  One of these people is Steven Sutantro.  He wrote a post called The Key of Growth Mindset: Learn, Unlearn, Relearn that made an impact because I keep thinking about it in application to my professional growth.

Until recently, my guiding idea in professional practice was the Teaching and Learning Cycle.  Now, I have replaced that cycle in my mind with one more reflective of a growth mindset.  I envision taking the cycle and bending it over into the infinity symbol.  The unlearning is the bridge between learning and relearning.  

The teaching profession is infamous in saying,  "This <fill in the blank>  is just like <fill in the blank> that we used to do.'  However, there is great value in the subtle twist of a nuance. Sometimes, the subtle twist moves one from encountering an idea to understanding that idea.  And sometimes, it is not a twist  Sometimes, it is a complete transformation away from an original guiding idea or practice.

I've crossed the unlearning bridge a number of times lately.  Here is one example.

Learn

When I began teaching, all obvious signs of reading trouble in the intermediate grades was comprehension.  The programs I had to work with zeroed in on comprehension strategies. The assessments I gave in the intermediate grades focused on comprehension. The curriculum (pre NCLB), and then the standards (post NCLB), pointed to comprehension.  The data gathered from the assessments pointed to issues of comprehension.  With all of the evidence pointing me to comprehension, I focused on comprehension in the classroom.

Unlearn

After meeting Brenda Erickson, a Montessori veteran, I began to focus on foundational reading skills.   I unlearned my assumption that students needed the name of a letter first when beginning literacy (through the Souns program) and this unlearning led to unlearning comprehension was the only culprit for reading troubles in the intermediate grades. 

If I could only go back in time...  

Relearn

I cannot go back but I can go forward. I relearned the intricate connections of reading, writing, listening and speaking bound together by sounds. After teaching my children in a Montessori-minded way, I realized how my children demonstrated stronger phonemic awareness than many of the 3rd, 4th and 5th students I taught. While I cannot return to students of the past, I can do something for students today.  I check letter sound knowledge of older children and then I listen to them read and notate my observations on a running record.  I relearned a focus for reading instruction for students who were struggling simply by looking for missing pieces in the foundation, the alphabetic principle, and it has made a difference for many struggling readers I have encountered.

Unlearning requires pride swallowing but it is the pathway to professional growth.  It challenges the ego who realizes that a past practice (or even a publication) may be flawed or incorrect.  Once one accepts past mistakes, or misguided practices, as necessary for growth and overcomes the stubborn ego, a significant new level of learning can begin.

Have you crossed the unlearning bridge in your professional practice? 

How can we transition a system through the unlearning bridge?

Share your ideas with the TED-Ed Community! 

Sutantro, S. (2014). The key of growth mindset: learn, unlearn, relearn. Eductechpost Retrieved from http://edutechpost.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/the-key-of-growth-mindset-learnunlearn-relearn/

Identity

While taking a walk with my friend last week, we chatted about a related problem plaguing our fields.  My friend is a director of a house that is a transitional stay between prison and society.  Her heart is with justice. Mine is in education.  She mentioned how performance-based funding has taken over. I mentioned the same thinking of accountability and performance-based funding is found in No Child Left Behind legislation.  

When TED shared in its Facebook feed Bryan Stevenson's talk, I saw the intricacy of the connection. When I sent it my friend's way, she did, too. We hit the tragic dichotomy in education similar to one eloquently described happening in our justice system.  The system thinking of performance outcomes is at odds with an individual's identity. 

Sometimes what is best for a system is not what is best for the individual. 

And sometimes what is best for the individual defies what is best for the system.

Please watch Bryan Stevenson's TED Talk: 

"We need to talk about an injustice."

If a standard applies to a learning mind, there are no exceptions.  

Every child’s mind is exceptional. 

Therefore, standards do not apply universally to learning.

  How to Change the Future

Hargis, A. (2013). How to change the future. Montessori Mischief. Retrieved from http://montessorimischief.com/how-to-change-the-future/

Stevenson, B. (2012) We need to talk about an injustice.  TED Talks. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice#

Make Standards Work in Public Education

"Standards can create learning environments. Standards cannot create learners," synthesized my mentor Brenda Erickson after listening to me ramble on and on about trouble with standards-based reform.

Education is not like other industries.  In public schools, education is a system servicing individual learners.  Often, what is best for the system is not what is best for the learner.  And, what is best for the learner is not always what is best for the system. 

Learning is complex, and the public education system is complicated!

Standards are of industry.

Standards work for environments.  Let's apply standards to ensure equitable learning environments for all children.

In the United States' public schools, standards could regulate healthy lunches.  Kudos, First Lady Michelle Obama, for taking on this important issue.  Brains work best with healthy food and the standard bar can establish minimal expectations for fresh fruits and vegetables.

In the United States' public schools, standards could facilitate equitable building conditions.  Is asbestos present?  Is the water in the water fountains safe?  Does the roof leak? Is there air conditioning and/or adequate heating?  Standards could regulate such inequities.  

In the United States' public schools, standards could create reasonable class sizes.  The standard bar could establish a minimal expectation for class-size capacity. 

In the United States' public schools, standards could provide access to technology for students. The standard bar could establish minimal expectations for technology in a building.

In the United States' public schools, standards could create time expectations for movement or exercise.  Brains need exercise to work best.  The standard bar could establish a minimal amount of time spent each day moving. 

In the United States' public schools, standards could create expectations for a robust library and certified librarian.  The standard bar understands numbers.  Flood schools with interesting books.  

In the United States' public schools, standards could define a reasonable range of per pupil expenditures.  The standard bar could establish a range of spending per pupil for equity purposes.

In 2001, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was reauthorized as No Child Left Behind and took effect in 2002.  NCLB applied standards as the measure of student achievement.

Standards are not of intellect.

In the United States' public schools, standards cannot measure learning.  Standards sort learning using a proficiency bar. Brains are far too complex for learning to be reflected or evaluated using such a bar. Standards are regulatory measures of what should be in the mind of a child and simply do not apply to a learning brain.  

Learning is not an industrial process. Learning is complex, and learning is organic. Learning is so organic that it occurs in the a vital organ, the brain. Brains cannot be regulated by government laws.  

I challenge standards-based reform as standards do not work with learning.

If you do not accept the logic of the standard bar, take a look at some data. Mark Dynarski graphed the stop of some improvement closing the achievement gap.  This link displays Inequality and National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Score Gaps from the Brown Center's Chalkboard.  Before NCLB, progress was happening and progress halted after No Child Left Behind. Standards-based reform has not worked because standards do not work with learning!

Standards are currently law.  Standards are law because of No Child Left Behind.  Please take time to read the purpose found on page 15 of the No Child Left Behind Act.  Standards are holding students accountable, teachers accountable, schools accountable and districts accountable.  Soon, standards will hold states accountable. The problem with all of this is standards do not work to measure learning!

Standards need to be removed from measuring learning.  They do not work with learning.

If you are confused, I totally understand.  It has taken me twelve years to sort this out.  Read more about the difference between Curriculum and Standards.  I have gone all over the place wrestling standards and their place with learning.  I've debated in my mind and with other educators.  I treasure literacy and numeracy and know the importance of these basic skills. In fact, as I have been writing, my daughter who just finished first grade just asked, "Is seventeen times five eighty five?"  I had to pause to figure out if she was right. Kids are so much more able than we expect.  We are on the wrong road and I have high expectations for our system to turn this around.  Learning is nurtured, grown, connected and cultivated. Learning is not a product enabled by government regulation.

We need to start with the learner and rethink how we have applied standards to education. What do you think?  What could standards measure in public schools? 

References 

Dynarski, M. (2014). Inequality and NAEP score gaps. The Brown Center Chalkboard. Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/brown-center-chalkboard/posts/2014/04/30-naep-score-gaps-dynarski?rssid=brown+center+chalkboard&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Brookingsrss%2Ftopfeeds%2Fbrown_center_chalkboard+%28Brookings%3A+Brown+Center+Chalkboard%29 

No Child Left Behind (2002). PUBLIC LAW 107–110—JAN. 8, 2002 115 STAT. 1425. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/107-110.pdf